I should have written this a fair few days ago but it’s been an emotional and tiring week to be honest. But let’s get you up to speed.
Monday night was my true goodbye day, Loïc left for France to spend the holidays with his family and I had a last supper with Joey, John, Pascal, Anne, Damien and his girlfriend Diah.
It was the sweetest thing, Joey had organised for herself and John to prepare dinner over at Pascal’s house and all I was to do was show up and enjoy it. I can’t even describe Pascal’s house to you, it is amazing it really is. It’s the kind of house that everybody tells you is awesome and you believe them, you do, but until you step through the front door and see it for yourself (jaw drops and eyes get wider), then you won’t get it. And so, my fantastic French Connection rallied round and we ate a La Reunion/Mauritian dish which John cooked and so brilliantly may I add. I haven’t had this dish since my nana made it and that’s been some years now. It was so nice to spend my last evening with friends, a nice quiet one before my five o’clock start the next morning - although Loïc was certainly missing from the pack.
So as Singapore Airlines taxied I said goodbye to the beaches, the temples, the rice paddies but mainly Sanur and those that are there. I started to get a bit teary I can tell you; after all, I had just spent two months there and that’s long enough for a strong case of nostalgia to set in. On to Singapore again...I had to book a night at a hostel again as there was a major time gap before my connection to Kathmandu (basically the next morning). So, now being familiar with the place, I swiftly got on the underground train and headed for Clarke Quay, that nice trusty area by the river, if you remember. I checked in, loaded my pockets with just the essentials and headed out for a ‘well done you’ coffee moment by the river. Of course it was humid and yep, naturally it rained for a bit – does this place have any other kind of weather?!
I also got me a delicious fix of crispy wontons that evening and I settled down in my lower bunk for an early night. The alarm was set for five again. I made good time back to Changi airport the next morning and I was ready for check-in and a breezy walk through customs but when I saw the departures board, I realised I could have had an extra couple of hours sleep. My plane had been ‘re-timed’ (not delayed), by two hours. By the way, if you ever have such a thing happen, Changi airport isn’t a bad one to be stuck in. It’s got everything you need really, and the air con is magic. I hadn’t had my morning cuppa yet so it was a nice big latte for me and a long sit down session on a bench outside for thinking about nothing and everything all at once.
So finally, after all this time – and I don’t just mean those two hours, I got on the plane to Nepal. The last destination on my Round the World ticket...it’s been a loooong ride folks. And although some of you may be thinking that it felt like I left a few weeks ago, I feel like I left lifetimes ago. It’s funny, I’ve waited all this time to go to Nepal and yet a little part of me was sort of hoping I was two weeks ahead in time and was heading for Heathrow. I’m ready for home now; I’m exhausted and full to capacity of memory and experience (just for now anyway). Some bits I don’t remember until something triggers my recollection, just little stories that happened way back in Arizona or even in Silicon Valley with Cat. My good friend Rob Archibald said to me at one point: “later on when you look back, it’s only the best bits of your travelling you’ll remember. All those other rubbish bits never stay in your mind” – and wow was he right. That’s happened to me already.
But I took on that traveller role again when I paid for my visa, collected my bag and looked for somewhere to change my money. The role that I had forgotten how to play, I’d been too comfy with other people in Bali and it had been a while since I landed somewhere completely new so I had to look lively again. And for those of you who have been to Kathmandu were probably all sniggering and thinking ‘oh Steph, just you wait’ when I was talking about how dangerous the roads were in Bali. I should have kept my mouth shut because bloody Nora, Kathmandu is crazy. And not like how I described San Francisco to be crazy and not dangerous like how I described the motorcyclists in Bali – it’s just...well...wow. I don’t know how to describe it without me sounding like I’m putting it down, so please just take this as an observation. It’s like one big junkyard (I don’t mean to be horrible, I really don’t!) but you kick your way through a mix of gravel and garbage the whole time. It’s crowded and it’s insanely noisy and misty from all the dust from the roads and I couldn’t find a single place to eat (well I didn’t walk very far) but everything is just a blur. Nothing personal against Nepal, again it’s just an observation, a brief description for those of you who have never been – and I promise you, once you get out of Kathmandu it is just stunning.
But check out this view from the terrace of my erm, hotel(?) i.e a cold building with some rooms in it.
Pretty cool view though eh?
But nothing, and I mean nothing, will top the view of the Himalayas from the plane window. It was a ‘pinch me, I might be dreaming’ type of thing. Above the clouds before descent I saw the most beautiful, breath-taking snow capped mountains ever. I finally achieved my goal – I saw them with my own 3D vision, right before me. You see pictures of them and you think, ‘wow they’re big, gosh they’re amazing’ – multiply those thoughts and comments by a thousand. That’s what I was feeling when I was sat there in my window seat (my first window seat in the entire time I’ve been travelling) just gawping and thinking, it can’t be them – is it really them? And then the captain came on and told us it was them and then I thought: ‘oh my god, it’s really them!’
When I leave, I am definitely keeping my camera in my hands upon take-off.
So, I’ve brought you almost up to date on this past week but I will fill you in on the latest very soon – I’ve changed my location, I’ve changed my departure date back to London and I’ve added one more country to my itinerary – have a guess where...go on...have a guess!
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